Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
2011
Journal or Book Title
Nucleic Acids Research
Volume
39
Issue
10
First Page
4166
Last Page
4179
DOI
10.1093/nar/gkq1363
Abstract
The bacterial recombinase RecA forms a nucleic acid-protein filament on single-stranded (ss) DNA during the repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs) that efficiently undergoes a homology search and engages in pairing with the complementary DNA sequence. We utilized the pairing activity of RecA–DNA filaments to tether biochemical activities to specific chromosomal sites. Different filaments with chimeric RecA proteins were tested for the ability to induce loss of heterozygosity at the golden locus in zebrafish after injection at the one-cell stage. A fusion protein between RecA containing a nuclear localization signal (NLS) and the DNA-binding domain of Gal4 (NLS-RecA-Gal4) displayed the most activity. Our results demonstrate that complementary ssDNA filaments as short as 60 nucleotides coated with NLS-RecA-Gal4 protein are able to cause loss of heterozygosity in ∼3% of the injected embryos. We demonstrate that lesions in ∼9% of the F0 zebrafish are transmitted to subsequent generations as large chromosomal deletions. Co-injection of linear DNA with the NLS-RecA-Gal4 DNA filaments promotes the insertion of the DNA into targeted genomic locations. Our data support a model whereby NLS-RecA-Gal4 DNA filaments bind to complementary target sites on chromatin and stall DNA replication forks, resulting in a DNA DSB.
Rights
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Copyright Owner
Hsin-Kai Liao and Jeffrey J. Essner
Copyright Date
2011
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Liao, Hsin-Kai and Essner, Jeffrey J., "Use of RecA Fusion Proteins to Induce Genomic Modifications in Zebrafish" (2011). Genetics, Development and Cell Biology Publications. 14.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/gdcb_las_pubs/14
Comments
This article is from Nucleic Acids Research 39 (2011): 4166, doi:10.1093/nar/gkq1363. Posted with permission.